"I Don't Know If There'll Be Snow, But Have A Cup Of Cheer."

You are either on one side of the fence or the other on this one. Either you shoot it directly into your veins for a Christmas high or you would rather drink used bath water.

#14 of 31 Things I Love About Christmas: Egg Nog

I just took a shot directly out of the carton before writing this. For inspiration's sake.

From Black Friday through Christmas night, I probably have at least a small juice glass amount of Christmas in a cup. No egg nog is consumed after the Christmas night. The magic is gone after Christmas. This has always been a hard line rule and the same applies to apple cider and candy corn and Halloween. November 1st, it's all over. Egg nog is similar to another favorite poison of mine, Slim Jims, don't ask too many questions about what actually egg nog is. Just shut up and drink.

Like all good things in life, nog, licorice, the Grateful Dead. Either you love it or hate it. Some of us love all three.

My beloved Sara could take it or leave it, I on the other hand, was responsible for polishing off, nearly single-handedly about 5 quarts of the goodness last year and spend the next 11 months working it off.

I was first introduced to the magic in the early 90s, it was now defunct brand Sealtest, (their milk, ice cream and dairy products were a fixture in Western NY). I remember it tasted kinda weird, but oh so good. Paired with Christmas cookies? fuhgeddaboutit. (that's one word in NY). Later on it was Upstate Farms that was our nog of choice. Now in NC, it's pretty much whatever half-decent brew I can get my paws on.

I can't even describe the taste really. It's like drinking a sweet sweet milky ice cream, kinda sorta. I love the stuff, and I couldn't even describe it accurately to someone who just arrived on our planet and didn't know about such things. I couldn't even tell you why I like it. I just swished a little around in my mouth like a yuletide mouthwash, trying to describe it accurately, still coming up empty and half ashamed of what I just did.

I know the stuff is terrible for you, but comes Christmas time, it feels oh so right.

"Decorations Of Red, On A Green Christmas Tree."

#29 on the list of the 31 Things I Love About Christmas is: Grandma’s House

There is something that is beyond explanation that is comfortable, warm and cozy about my grandma’s house at Christmas time. I know, this is gonna seem like a stretch, but run with me on this one.

Italians eat. Italians are all about family. Italians are all about eating with family. From as long as I can remember up until Mid November ’96, we ate at Grandma’s every Sunday. 1pm. Never before. I can still her bellowing “C’MON!” from the kitchen, though it would take another 20 minutes before everyone was seated with their plate. Everyone in their spot. If you were to look at the table from the kitchen/hall doorway, starting clockwise would be Rosalia, Mom, Dad, me, Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Julie. Later room would be made and a card table would be necessary to accommodate my Uncle Harry, their daughter Giavanna and my brother Michael. Eating and conversation would often continue for 2 or 3 hours. If you think I’m kidding, you must not have any relatives from “The Boot.” Easter, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, father’s day, mother’s day…all spent on Whitlock Road.

But Christmas time, again, I remember the most bizarre things. This musical wind up Christmas tree with three snowmen skating would be placed on the kitchen TV (sometimes on top of the fridge with the mini light up Christmas tree, or on the counter). There would be a little plastic wreath safety-pinned to the drapes, while full window cling sheets would be taped to the kitchen and bedroom doors (Grandma mess up her windows? Good luck) the living room would be rearranged to accommodate the Christmas tree (formerly stored in the attic, which after all these years, I still have never seen nor been in).

I can still see this old blue and yellow Molson Export box which the Christmas ornaments were kept. From the hallway, to the left was the end table and grandpa’s chair, directly across from the Christmas tree and grandmas chair. That rather old cheap but charming plastic angel, atop the tree sealed the deal. This altered the look of the entire room and something about the new position of the lights, plus the sparkling Christmas tree and the lights from neighboring houses, plus the Christmas lights on their house, which shone through the three mini windows in the front door in a frosted haze of colors….I can still close my eyes and picture it. Why this affects me after all this time, I don’t know, but it was one of the most comfortable things in the world.

In the kitchen would be the same Christmas-y paper cups, plastic table cloths, paper plates and foam coffee cups that we had used for years. No, don’t worry, they weren’t reused each year or anything, but I think she stumbled across the deal of a lifetime some years prior and bought up Christmas and Halloween party supplies by the gross. Anise (most people really have no idea what I'm talking about...this amazing licorice tasting vegetable type thing...delich, apparently it's proper name is Florence fennel) could always be found on the table. Egg nog would be close by, as would a basket of mixed nuts, “Once you start with these things, that’s it," Grandma would say, in between cracking another walnut or hazelnut, plus enough Christmas cookies to last til Easter. Sometimes, when we were younger we would have helped make them the previous week or earlier that week….but enough about Christmas cookies, more on them later.

Basically, this vision and these memories represent a simple and prized time in my life. Christmas was the best day of the year and it seemed Christmas vacation would last forever. Of course Christmas vacation cant last forever, but the memories sure can.